Snare drums typically include a plurality of wires, or snares, which contact a bottom drumhead or drumskin of the snare drum so that the snares are vibrated by the vibration of the bottom drumhead when the snare drum is played. A strainer is typically used to tension the snares in order to change the tone produced by the drum by changing the position of the snares so that they are either in contact or not in contact with the drumhead. Snare tension may also be fine-tuned or finely adjusted by a tension knob which is rotated to finely tune the tension in the snare to change the tone produced by the drum.
Conventional strainers for snares use a lever directly connected to a piston, wherein the lever pivots about an axis generally perpendicular to the piston so that, when the lever is pivoted from one position to another, the piston drops and the tension in the snares is released so that the snares are no longer in contact with the drumhead. Some of these pivoting levers for strainers can only be operated so that the snares are either in contact with the drumhead (snares-on mode), or not in contact with the drumhead (snares-off mode), and are not adjustable to different tensions in between those extremes. Further, the strainer can include a throw-off mechanism configured to tension or quickly release the snares. Other prior art systems permit intermediate adjustment of the snare tension between the snare-on and snare-off modes using the strainer.
However, strainer levers of the prior art systems may accidentally become dislodged because they do not have a positive lock mechanism. Therefore, the levers can accidentally vibrate loose and disengage to the off position during vigorous play.
Therefore, there is need for a novel, simple and effective throw-off mechanism that a drummer may use to quickly tension and/or release snares, such as metal wires, that are used adjacent the bottom drumhead to produce certain distinctive acoustic effects, upon beating a drum.